


Parenting is Hard. Love is Harder.

by Danishartist



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bottom Eren Yeager, Comedy, Drama & Romance, Eventual Levi/Eren Yeager, Eventual Romance, Eventual Sex, Eventual Smut, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, Falling In Love, First Time Bottoming, Gay Sex, Levi has kids, M/M, Sarcasm, Sexual Tension, Slow Build, Some Humor, Top Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Work In Progress, a lot of sarcasm
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:28:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25190131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Danishartist/pseuds/Danishartist
Summary: Levi is the single parent of two kids, 5-year-old Isabel and 7-year-old Farlan. He feels like his parenting skills are lacking, and it doesn't help when his kids suddenly fall madly in love with their new daycare worker, the young and carefree Eren.They don't get off to the greatest start, but anything can happen when trying to make kids happy.
Relationships: Levi & Eren Yeager
Comments: 3
Kudos: 30





	1. Don't Talk Like That

This was the third time I had looked at my watch while standing here. I could hear children screaming from another room, and I silently cringed, hoping that I at least had raised mine better than to behave like that. A little girl ran past me, another one chasing after her and accidentally bumping into my right leg. I was about to scold her, but before I had time to even look down, she had already sped off.

“No manners these days. Tch,” I crossed my arms, slightly shaking my head in disapproval. How could it take them so long to get here? They knew very well what time I would pick them up, and I usually never had to wait this long. I looked at my watch for the fourth time. 5:06. Unacceptable. If they failed to come to me, then I would have to come to them. No matter how much I hated stepping a foot into the germ-filled daycare, I still hated wasting time more. 

“Isabel! Farlan!” I yelled as I begrudgingly walked into the kitchen, which had doors that lead to both living rooms and to the terrace outside. There were a bunch of children playing with their plastic toys, not even bothering to look up from their playtime. If it wasn’t their name being yelled, then there was no reason to be distracted from their game, after all. Isabel and Farlan was nowhere to be seen inside the house. 

I frowned, before heading outside to get a view of the garden. Even more children were out here, and the daycare workers were here as well. Some were trying to comfort some snot-filled, crying little bastards, while others were cleaning up after the children. 

What a horrible job to have, I thought to myself. I was I competent man, but even I had enough self-insight to know that I wouldn’t last a day taking care of this place. It was beyond my understanding why some people would willingly make this a career. 

“Isabel! Farlan!” I yelled again, while my eyes scanned the place for bright red hair. At least Isabel was easy to locate. Farlan was a bit more difficult, as he easily blended into a crowd. 

“Daddy!” A girlish high-pitched scream came from the back end of the garden. I turned to look, my eyes immediately locating the red color I was looking for. Isabel was sitting on a daycare worker’s back, waving excitedly at me, right until she saw my face. Her face changed from pure happiness to confusion and then to embarrassment as she probably first now realized the only reason why I was standing in the middle of the daycare’s garden. She hadn’t kept her end of the deal. I felt a slight sense of guilt for being the reason that she had lost that bright smile of hers, but then I reminded myself that I was raising her to be a responsible human being and if she couldn’t even keep a simple deal, then it was only reasonable for her to react like that. At least she knew that she had done something wrong. 

I made my way over to her, and on the way I noticed that Farlan was with her too, clinging to the daycare worker’s arm. Isabel jumped down from the guy’s back and placed her hands together.

“I’m sorry daddy!” She pleaded with me as I got close enough. “We were just having so much fun that we forgot-“ 

“You know how I feel about excuses,” I scolded her. “Now come on. You too, Farlan. You’ve wasted enough of my time already,” 

Farlan stood up and walked over to Isabel. As I placed my hands in my pockets and turned around to walk away, someone yelled out.

“Hey! You shouldn’t talk to your kids that way!”

I raised an eyebrow and turned half-way around to look at who had dared to interrupt me. The daycare worker that Isabel and Farlan had played with had gotten to his feet, though still brushing the sticky grass away from his knees. I had been so occupied by Isabel and Farlan that I hadn’t paid him a single thought, but now that he was standing before me I could get a better look. He was tall, probably a head taller than me, and his body was well-built. His hair was hazelnut brown, and his eyes … was it just because he was looking at me with such an intense look, or was it the color of teal that did the trick? No matter what it was, he wasn’t any ordinary guy from the looks of it – and definitely not someone that I had seen before. 

“Are you new?” I quickly asked, which seemed to baffle him for a second. He had probably gotten ready to give me a piece of his mind, I knew his type after all, but now I had gotten the upper hand. 

“I- I…” He looked at me for a moment, hesitating as his eyes scanned me from head to toe. I didn’t mind since I had just done the same to him. “Yeah, I started yesterday.” He spat out. It wasn’t hard to notice the angry tone in his voice. 

“If I were you, I would think twice before I opened my mouth to say something. I’ll have you know that I can have you fired as quickly as you’ve been hired, is that understood?” 

He gritted his teeth, but it was clear to see that my cold and professional demeanor had an influence on him. I couldn’t read his thoughts, but I was guessing that he was trying to figure out if I really had that kind of power. But in the end, it was probably the suit and tie that did the trick on him. 

“Understood,” He exhaled with a bitter expression. 

Good, I thought to myself. This guy looked young, and I wasn’t about to be told off by some fucking teenager who probably still had their mom do their laundry and cut the crust off their sandwiches. 

“Besides, it’s not polite to criticize someone’s parenting skills. Learn your place, boy.” I sneered, before turning around again. I stormed back inside the daycare, fully expecting Isabel and Farlan to follow me.

On the car ride home, they had never been quieter. Usually Isabel would be telling me about what type of meal she had made out of mud that day, while Farlan would point and yell out every time he saw something interesting through the window. And normally I would absolutely love this silence, but today it was annoying the heck out of me. 

There was a small sense of guilt building up inside my stomach, and it frustrated me since I didn’t even feel like I had done anything wrong. 

The boy had been out of line. It had been the right thing to do! But as I was looking at the faces of Isabel and Farlan in the back-view mirror, I got the feeling that they were somehow… Disappointed? In me?

I tch-ed and gritted my teeth. What a horrible day. I had already had a shitty day at work, and now I was getting the silent treatment from my own kids, even though they were the ones who had been late? 

“Oi! Why are you guys so quiet?” 

Isabel almost jumped in her seat. She hadn’t expected me to address them already.

“Daddy… You were really mean to Eren,” She reprimanded me, even though her voice was like a mouse. “He was really nice to me and Farlan!”

I rubbed my temples, letting out a low sigh. 

“You kids don’t understand this, but that guy was about to say something really mean to your daddy, so your daddy had to stop him from doing that.” I explained in the simplest way I could. 

“But you said that you would get him fired!” Isabel’s voice got a little more high-pitched now. She was upset, that much was clear.

I waited with my response as I parked the car in the driveway to our house. As I opened the door to get out, so did Farlan and Isabel. 

“I didn’t mean it, Isabel.” I said, as Isabel ran over to stand before me. That was a lie, but she wouldn’t be able to tell. 

“You’re lying! You’re mean and you hate him and you want to fire him! And I love him and I will hate you FOREVER if you do anything mean to him!” While saying so, her voice got higher and higher, before she turned on her heel and ran inside the house. Probably on her way to her room so she could throw herself onto her bed and bury her face in her pillow.

Typical Isabel. 

Farlan kicked some of the sand in front of him, seemingly unsure of what to do with himself. He looked torn between talking to me or following his little sister.

“What? You think I’m the devil too?” I snapped at him. I didn’t mean to say it so harshly, but I was annoyed and not used to dealing with this type of drama. 

“He was really nice to us. Played with us all day,” He pouted. “And you didn’t even say hi to him.” 

I guess that was a yes to my question. 

“Get inside. I’m making lasagna for dinner so tell your sister to be down at 7 pm. If you’re even a minute late, then there’s no dinner for any of you. Got that?” 

“Yes sir,” He nodded, before running into the house as well. 

Great, another day where my kids hate my guts. I didn’t like the thought that I probably just had to get used to it. As a single parent, you can’t be their hero all the time. Sometimes you have to be the bad guy, and I suppose I was just better at the latter. 

The clock showed 6:58 pm when Isabel and Farlan appeared in the kitchen. Farlan walked to the table and sat down, looking as though he had already forgotten the earlier ordeal, but Isabel? She stomped her way to her seat, her face looking gloomy and pouty. 

I had placed the plates of lasagna in front of them, before sitting down on my seat on the other side of the table. I poured some red wine into my glass, crossed my legs and took a sip. I would eat something else later, so there was nothing else for me to do than to look at the children in front of me.

“Eat the greens first,” I said in a reprimanding tone as they grabbed their forks to dig in. 

We sat there in silence for some time. I waited until they were 2/3 finished, before saying anything else. 

“Isabel, does the lasagna taste good?”

“Yes daddy,” She nodded quietly before taking another bite.

“Then why are you looking at it as if you want it dead?”

Isabel paused as her cheeks filled with blood. “Daddy!” She whined. “Don’t tease me when I’m mad at you!”

“You’re still mad at me?” I faked the surprised tone in my voice as I put my wine glass down on the table. “How could you possibly be mad at daddy?” I asked with a softer tone as I slightly tilted my head to look at her, feigning ignorance. 

“B-Because…” She looked at me with her large eyes, her bottom lip quivering. The anger was slowly seeping out of her, like the air in a balloon. “Because you were mean to my new friend!”

I took a deep breath. “Baby, I’m sorry that I was mean to your friend.” An obvious lie to anyone but little kids. 

Isabel hesitated with what she wanted to say next. She opened her mouth, then closed it, then opened it again. At last she made up her mind as she jumped down from the chair and ran over to me. She crawled up in my lap – with a helping hand from me – and threw her arms around my neck. 

“Please be nice to him tomorrow!” She yelled, though the sound was muffled from my clothes as she had buried her face into my shirt. I snickered silently and gently caressed her small back as I nodded. 

“Yeah yeah, I’ll try.” I mumbled. I guess I could be civil with him in front of the kids, but that solely depended on how he behaved. I closed my eyes and thought back at him in the daycare’s garden. His clothes had been full of grass marks and his hair had been a mess, but his eyes … I had to admit, it had been fun to see all that passion and anger in his eyes, and even though he had backed down when I had addressed him, his eyes were still burning the entire time. And then there was me, who couldn’t even remember the last time I had been that full of emotion. 

Isabel had called him Eren, right?

Well, Eren, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.


	2. I Wanna Play With Eren

**Chapter 2**

Shitty day. Everyone around me should just go die. Incompetent swine. Tch.

I parked the car and got out in a swift motion, not even bothering to put my suit jacket back on as I smacked the car door. I pulled up the sleeves of my shirt as I walked through the front doors to the daycare. 4:55 pm. I was early.

I leaned up against the wall, pulled out my phone and started going through my e-mails like a machine. A few moments later, however, familiar voices could be heard from the corridor that lead to the kitchen.

“… -ease become friends! I really want my daddy to like you!” I had no doubt that was Isabel.

“I-I don’t think that’s gonna happen, you guys.” A deeper voice spoke, clearly not a kid’s. “He seemed really mad yesterday. I think your dad is the type of guy to hold grudges,”

“No no NO! He promised he’d be nice!” Isabel whined. I sighed lowly. I really had to start teaching her to not whine like a little brat. Otherwise, people might think she was spoiled rotten, like the kids you’d see on television.

I went over to the front door, silently opening it and then slamming it shut to make sure they’d hear it.

“Isabel? Farlan?” I called, pretending like I had just arrived. My watch showed 4:59 pm.

“Daddy!” Isabel screamed, her voice full of excitement. Five seconds later she appeared in the entrance opening, pulling the daycare worker’s sleeve behind her. She let go when she felt like he wasn’t going to resist her grip, and then proceeded to run to her locker to grab her bag and shoes.

“Hey…” The guy said hesitantly. He rubbed the back of his neck in a nervous manner, clearly not feeling very comfortable with the whole situation. “Isabel wanted me to introduce myself, since we didn’t really greet each other properly the, um, the last time we met.”

I stared at him, and then down. Farlan was standing behind his left leg, observing my reactions.

I sighed. The things you would do for your children.

“I suppose you’re right about that. I’m Levi Ackerman, Isabel’s and Farlan’s father.” I closed the gap between us and stretched out my arm with an open hand. “Nice to meet you.”

I could be civil when I wanted to. Could he?

He looked hesitantly at my hand, and then at me. Took him about 3 awkward seconds to finally shake it. At least he could give a firm handshake.

“Eren Jaeger.”

I nodded. “Seems like my children have taken quite a liking to you. How’d you manage that?”

Eren seemed to relax a little bit when I said that, and then finally realized Farlan that was behind him. He let out a light laughter and nuzzled Farlan’s hair.

“I have no idea. Isabel’s pretty much not let go of me since I started working here. I’m here as part of my internship, so I have more time to play with the children than the other guys. So, well, I guess that might have something to do with it,” He shrugged, but a hint of a smile still stayed on his lips.

It seemed like he really enjoyed hanging around children. Not that I could imagine what that was like. I adored my children, of course, but being around so many snotty brats for so long at a time … Imagine the germs.

“Internship? So, you’re still in school?”

“This will be my last year of school. I’ll be here all summer and then I go back,”

“Oh,” I didn’t really know what else to say. “Farlan, go put your shoes on.” I said instead, moving the focus onto the kids instead. Isabel was struggling with her laces, or perhaps it was more like she was pretending to. She probably just wanted this dreadful conversation to last longer than necessary.

Farlan let go of Eren’s pants and hurried over to his locker. Eren began scratching his neck again, as if he suddenly felt more vulnerable now that Farlan wasn’t behind him anymore.

“So, uh … What’s your job?”

He was clearly only asking to keep the conversation going. Too much silence would be too awkward, and he had probably made some kind of ridiculous promise to Isabel. Well, I guess I had as well, so I couldn’t blame him. She was a convincing little brat when she wanted to be.

“I can’t really say,” I replied, crossing my arms.

“Huh?” He looked at me dumbfoundedly. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

I shrugged.

“I work for the government. I can’t really go into details.”

“O-Oh...” Eren hadn’t expected that. His eyes scanned me again, as if he were seeing me in a whole different way. He had probably just thought I was some kind of boring businessman.

“What?” I snapped at him. I wasn’t in the mood to be ogled at like I was some kind of zoo animal. “We don’t all look like the ones from Men in Black, okay?”

“I didn’t mean to-…”

“Daddy!” Isabel said loudly, interrupting Eren. She looked at me with eyes that said _you promised you’d be nice._

I had to force myself not to roll my eyes at my only daughter.

“Oi, stop wasting time and finish those laces. Unless you want to walk barefoot to the car?”

She blew raspberries at me in a cheerful manner, not at all affected by my hard tone of voice. She truly knew me well enough to know when I was being serious and when I was not.

“I’m done, daddy!” She said happily, jumping up. “Farlan, come on!” She grabbed her brother’s hand and pulled him with her as she ran outside.

“I think that’s my que to leave.” I said, then turned around and hurried out before he had a chance to answer. Thank god that was finally over.

I unlocked the car and helped Isabel reach the car seat and put on her seatbelt. When I had taken my place in the front and turned on the car, I spotted Eren standing in the doorway.

“See you tomorrow!” He yelled with a big, stupid smile planted on his face as he waved at the car. I was only confused for a second or two before I remembered that he was probably waving at the children.

I stared at him for a moment without any change in my expression, before finally backing out of the driveway and speeding off.

As we returned home and the kids ran to the rooms, I went out on the balcony that overlooked the water. I pulled out my phone and dialed the number.

”Hey,” I said coldly as I leaned over the railing. “I need you to find everything you can on someone,”

“What’s the name?” The voice replied, as if it was a completely normal request.

I squinted my eyes as I looked at the horizon. A strong wind messed up my hair, but I was just as unbothered as before.

“Eren Jaeger,”

* * *

It had been three days since then. Isabel and Farlan had met me in the entrance at the planned time, so I hadn’t really since any more of that Eren guy.

Didn’t mean that I hadn’t _heard_ about him, though. The kids basically wouldn’t shut about how great and fun he was. I politely listened to everything they had to say – and sometimes zoning out as parents sometimes did – but their words didn’t really change my opinion on him. In my eyes he was still rude and annoying.

“Alright, time for bed.” I announced to them as I entered the living room. They were watching Disney Channel as always, some kind of animated superhero show.

“Five minutes mooooooore!” Isabel cried out, clearly not happy about the decision. It was the same conversation we had every night.

“You always have to be in bed by 8:15 pm, you know the rules, or else you-“

“-won’t get bedtime story,” Isabel finished my sentence grumpily. I shook my head at her. I had to at least give her credit for listening.

“That’s right, young lady. Now get to it, both of you.”

They hurried off to the bathroom to brush their teeth and I followed suit. I helped Isabel brush her teeth and removed the ponytails she had been wearing. I quickly made a simple braid in her hair and then proceeded to follow them into their shared bedroom.

“Alright, which one tonight?” I asked them, which I immediately regretted. After listening to them bicker about what story to choose, I ended up picking one for them and scooted them both into bed.

It took about ten minutes to read it, and by then Farlan had already fallen asleep. Isabel was still fighting to keep her eyes open though.

“Better go off to the dreamy land soon, buddy.” I whispered, as I closed the book and sat down on the edge of her bed.

“Don’t wanna,” She pouted, though it was helpless. Her tired body was fighting against her stubbornness, but it was clear which one was going to win.

“Weren’t you excited for tomorrow? The faster you fall asleep, the more quickly tomorrow will come.” I said in the wisest voice I could muster.

She smiled happily and closed her eyes.

“I’m gonna play with Ereeeeen… He’s so fun…”

“Yeah, I bet he’s a real charmer,” I mumbled, rolling my eyes. But she wasn’t even listening to me anymore. Her mind was already drifting away.

“So fun… I wish he were my other daddy so I could… Play with him… All the t-…” A little snore escaped her lips and she was gone.

Ouch. I know she didn’t mean it like I had heard it, but it had still sounded like she liked Eren better than me. I couldn’t help but feel bitter. Of course she liked him, he didn’t have to raise her. He didn’t have to scold her when she was acting out or make her follow the rules when she didn’t want to. He just had to play with her and make her happy.

I knew that raising a kid meant that they wouldn’t be able to be grateful for all the things I did for them, but it still stung to know that they didn’t see me as a fun dad.

Was I just the mean dad in their eyes? The one who was always away at work and never had any time to be with them the way they wanted me to?

I slid a hand through my hair in a defeated motion and walked out of their room.

Alright, I clearly had to do better. I had to show them that I could be fun too. But how? When would I have time?

I walked into my office and sat down at the computer. I turned it on and started going through my e-mails. The first one that popped up was from Hange.

_Here’s all the information you requested. He seems like a normal kid though. What’s this all about?_

I ignored the question and clicked on the file instead. My eyes scanned the different documents, not particularly looking for anything specific.

He had an adopted sister and his parents were still together. He had lived in this town all his life and worked a few small part-time jobs after he had turned 12. He had graduated from the local high school, then took a sabbatical year. There was little information on what he had spent his time on that year, other than buying plane tickets to Europe. After that, he had gone off to college. It all seemed very clean and proper. He hadn’t had any run-ins with the law either and neither had the rest of his family.

One of the documents said that he had gone to a child therapist when he had turned seven. Strange, but not too rare.

I squinted my eyes, as I clicked on the last piece of documents. It was transcriptions of the adoption process, but large parts of the document had been crossed out with black. How come? From what I could decipher, every part of the adoption seemed very normal, so how come it had been necessary to remove information? And worse, why couldn’t someone with high clearance like Hange get a hold on the original documents?

It seemed sketchy, though I didn’t quite yet understand what it had to do with Eren. After all, he had been so young at the time.

I would have to call Hange later to have her find out what that had to be about, but right now I needed to go to sleep. I closed down the e-mail, only to see that a new one had popped up in the meantime.

It was from the daycare, reminding all the parents of the picnic trip on Saturday and how we were very much encouraged to participate. I rubbed my temples in annoyance – I had completely forgotten about that.

I suddenly remembered Isabel’s words of Eren as she drifted off to sleep, and I felt a twitching in my heart. Alright, I could be the fun dad. I could call off work and join them on this little trip. Spend time with them for once, where the daycare workers would take care of everything so that we could just spend time with our children. No worries, no job, just me and the kids. And the 20 other screaming brats and their stuck-up parents who would silently judge me the entire day and gossip about me behind my back.

Oh, I couldn’t wait.


End file.
